THE LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 

A&A PACKER, FOUNDER. 



Citi2;enship 



AND 



Technical Education. 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED ON 



Founders Day, 

OCTOBER 8, 1896, 



BY 



JOHN H. CONVERSE, A.B., 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 



/ 






THE LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 

ASA PACKER, FOUNDER. 



Citizenship 



AND 



Technical Education. 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED ON 



Founders Day, 

OCTOBER 8, 1896, 



BY 

JOHN H. (:ONVERSE, A.B., 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 



PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, 
-Bethlehem, Pa. 
1896. 






can 

OCT 12 1908 



• • • 

* • 
• » • 



CITIZENSHIP 



AND 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



The observance of Founder's Day in such an in- 
stitution as this is a most commendable and fitting 
custom. In one sense it is unnecessary. Your beauti- 
fijl grounds, your stately buildings, your admirable out- 
fit and your corps of able instructors, all are a perpetual 
memorial of the wisdom and the benevolence of the 
founder. The inscription in honor of Sir Christopher 
Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral, which, for lack of 
novelty, I refrain from quoting, might, with propriety, 
here be written of Asa Packer. But the full force of 
his act and the lessons of his perfected purpose would 
not thus be emphasized. 

It is well to have the stimulus of a recurring anni- 
versary to bring to our minds the complete significance 
of the conditions which here surround us. Architecture 
has been aptly styled ''frozen music." The plant of 
this University may be properly designated as "ma- 
terialized benevolence." And it is well that the wis- 
dom which guided that benevolence should receive 
careful consideration for all the lessons which it con- 
veys. 

It is not my purpose to indulge in a eulogy of the 
distinguished founder. Others have done this hereto- 



fore, and others can do it far better than I. It was not 
my privilege to have more than a passing acquaintance 
with Judge Packer. Personal tribute would, therefore, 
be out of place. It may, however, be appropriate to 
utilize the time which is allotted me by a superficial 
consideration of the subject suggested by the occasion — 
" Citizenship and Technical Education." 

In our democratic system technical schools are not 
supported by the State. It would, in the estimation of 
voters, savor too much of paternalism to permit of such 
a practice. A common-school education in most com- 
munities, with here and there a high school or academy 
at the public expense, constitutes all that our people 
have thus far deemed advisable or necessary. The 
argument for the existence of these is that they are 
requisite for the training of those who are to be citizens, 
and that they are in the interest of the State, as operat- 
ing for the prevention of crime, which is the handmaid 
of ignorance. All beyond this is by the will of the 
majority stamped as unjustifiable — as a luxury for 
which the recipients and not the State should pay. 
As a general proposition this theory may be sound, 
although if an education which only negatively benefits 
the State may be provided at the public expense, much 
more, it might be argued, should the State promote a 
training which shall produce positive results in advanc- 
ing the public welfare. Elsewhere this latter principle 
is recognized. France has its comprehensive scheme 
of education, including the primary, the secondary and 
the superior technical schools. The outgrowth of that 
era of organization which marked the first Empire, it 
has been maintained and developed to the present day. 
Government supervision and uniformity of method have 
made its advantages available to all seekers. Ger- 



many goes still further. There the gymnasium leads 
to the university for literary and general culture ; to 
the realschule for business training ; or to the technical 
schools for the acquirement of the practical professions. 
Even China, half heathen as we are accustomed to re- 
gard "The Flowery Kingdom," has its system of com- 
petitive examinations under governmental auspices, 
promoting the highest culture under the standard there 
prevailing. Appointments and promotions to civil 
office are made from the lists of those who have ob- 
tained the highest rank in these competitions. 

In the absence, then, of any provision by Govern- 
ment in our country for special education, such institu- 
tions must chiefly be created and maintained by private 
beneficence. It is a fact, I believe, that few if any of 
the institutions for higher education are self-supporting. 
The wise benevolence of individuals is the basis on 
which most have been created. The citizen who is the 
steward of earthly possessions must recognize an ob- 
ligation in this respect. Not only does the constitu- 
tion of society demand it, but in some sense every citi- 
zen is but discharging a debt to the community by 
contributing to the support of institutions of learning. 
In this respect the claims of technical education are pe- 
culiarly strong. The maxim that " every man is the 
architect of his own fortune" is only true in a qualified 
sense. Every man is indebted to the contributions of 
his predecessors and his contemporaries. The chemist 
who has determined the properties of matter, the engi- 
neer who has shown in practice structural possibilities 
and principles, the architect who has enriched the 
world for generations to come by a creation which is a 
''thing of beauty and a joy forever," the metallurgist 
who has developed methods of manufacture which have 



— 6 — 

enhanced and extended the usefulness of the materials 
at men's command — all these have contributed to the 
common stock of human knowledge, and have made 
their successors or their associates their debtors. 
Herein is true socialism — that socialism which grows 
out of the constitution of society ordained by Divine 
wisdom. It is not the creation of arbitrary law, but 
demonstrates anew the universal brotherhood of the 
race in the dependence of one on another, and in the 
indebtedness which every successful man incurs to his 
fellows. Every mill or manufactory, every coal mine, 
every productive enterprise which dots this teeming 
Lehigh Valley, and has made it and its workers what 
they are, is the concentration of the unbought but price- 
less experience of thousands of thinkers and workers 
who have gone before. How better can you or I, if we 
have profited by their labors, repay our debt than by 
passing on to our successors the opportunities for 
training which shall be the means of further progress? 

*^ I hold it truth, with him who sings 
To one clear harp in divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things." 

If then provision for higher education is a debt which 
the citizen owes to the community, how better can he 
pay it than by contributing during his lifetime? More 
certainty of his plans being properly carried out is thus 
assured. The case of the late Hon. Samuel J. Tilden 
is in point. Eminent lawyer as he was, his will, drawn 
by himself, was partially set aside and his purpose frus- 
trated. It is better that a man should be his own 
executor in his benefactions. Under his personal su- 
pervision defects in the original scheme can be reme- 



died, omissions made good, and additions suggested by 
experience incorporated. To say nothing of the gratifi- 
cation which a completed and successful work confers 
upon its author, its influence upon others is stimulat- 
ing and far-reaching. Since Lehigh University was 
founded, Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr, Chicago, Leland 
Stanford, Drexel Institute and others have been es- 
tablished. Who shall say that Judge Packer's exam- 
ple was not efficacious in all or many of these founda- 
tions ? 

But the debt which the citizen owes to the commu- 
nity for higher education involves an obligation on the 
part of the recipient which cannot in most cases be 
discharged by a pecuniary consideration. You who 
are alumni, or are to be alumni, of an institution like 
this are not privileged to use your intellectual equip- 
ment here acquired solely for your own aggrandize- 
ment. Society has claims upon you. In the practice 
of your profession you must contribute something to 
the welfare of the community as opportunity offers. 
The clergyman performs many offices of mercy for 
those in need, but who have no claim upon him. The 
physician, in his hospital practice and in his gratuitous 
attendance on the poor, renders an extensive service 
for which he receives no moneyed compensation. The 
lawyer, by his conduct of the cases of those unable to 
engage counsel, discharges in some measure the obli- 
gation under which he rests. Are these learned pro- 
fessions, as they are called, alone amenable to this 
rule? There are emergencies and conditions where 
the mechanic, the engineer, the architect, the chemist, 
may render a valuable service to the community, and 
which he should regard as opportunities of privilege. 
You may not ask the architect to draw plans for your 



— 8 — 

house without full compensation, but for an art gallery, 
or a hospital, or a library, for the benefit of society, you 
might well expect a concession in the regular fee. It 
is agreed that the happiest definition of civil engineer- 
ing is that it "is the art of directing the great sources 
of power in nature for the use and convenience of 
man." If the engineer (and in that term we may in- 
clude all the graduates of an institution like this) pos- 
sesses a power so important, built up, as it has been, 
by the experience of thousands of predecessors, and 
made possible of acquisition by the founding of techni- 
cal schools like this, he certainly has a duty to use it in 
some measure for the benefit of his fellows. Christi- 
anity teaches us that the Saviour of mankind promises 
the highest recognition of service done in His name to 
even the least of those in need. The relations of men 
in society show that there is an obligation of service 
even in the realm of materialistic progress. 

The foregoing considerations lead to the inquiry, 
What scheme of education is best adapted to promote 
true citizenship? It may be presumptuous in me to 
attempt to answer this question. In the presence of 
another audience I should hesitate. But here I feel 
that I have your sympathies in the effort. Lehigh 
University itself has largely indicated the reply. The 
idea of the founder, as I understand it, was to provide 
intellectual and moral as well as technical training. 
The "combined course" which is offered in your cir- 
culars, points in the same direction. 

The true citizen must be more than a narrow spec- 
ialist. His education must be thorough, comprehen- 
sive, humanizing, practical. The function of the uni- 
versity, properly so called, is to afford precisely such a 
training. It should include not only the humanities, 



— 9 — 

but also, necessarily and inseparably, the preparation 
for a profession or calling. 

The ideal university then might have, first, say, a 
three years' course in the humanities, leading as now 
to the degree of A.B. ; and, secondly, a two years' 
course in technical, scientific, legal or other specific 
studies leading to the degree of C.E., M.E., E. of M., 
or other appropriate degree. And these two courses 
should be made, not optional, but obligatory, forming 
in effect a five years' course. If it be said that students 
will select in preference a merely technical chool 
where in a shorter time the desired diploma may be 
obtained, I answer that I have no concern with that 
policy. My contention is that there is room for a uni- 
versity wherein the training afforded and enforced shall 
make the citizen as well as the engineer, the broadly 
cultured, self-reliant man, and not a specialist ex- 
clusively. 

The trend of educational development points, I 
think, to something of this character as the true uni- 
versity. A marked change has come over the schemes 
of higher education during the past generation. For- 
merly the theory in our universities was culture for 
culture's sake. Utility, as an essential of the studies 
pursued, was little regarded, or was scouted as some- 
thing common or unclean. The classics, the mathe- 
matics, and metaphysics constituted in the main the 
approved curriculum. Complete courses in chemistry, 
in biology and in physics were rare in the department 
of arts. Even the modern languages scarcely ever 
appeared in the curriculum. The classics were empha- 
sized to the exclusion of the natural sciences. Some in 
my hearing may remember the sensation produced by 
Charles Francis Adams, when, two or three decades 



— lO 



ago, in an oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa 
Society of Harvard, he denounced as a fetich the 
slavish worship of Latin and Greek in the college 
course. The feeling which he then voiced has un- 
ceasingly prevailed. Since that time the change in 
college methods has been remarkable. Requirements 
in entrance examinations have been enlarged. More 
Latin and Greek and mathematics and English litera- 
ture, and history are demanded as a condition of ma- 
triculation, in order that more time in the four years' 
course may be available for the natural sciences, litera- 
ture and the modern languages. In many colleges, 
scientific courses and elective special studies struggle 
to replace the time-honored curriculum. Laboratory 
work has been introduced and enlarged ; geology and 
biology are pursued by practical investigation ; and 
even manual training and shop practice have found a 
place as cognate branches in some of our universities. 

The significance of this movement is not far to seek. 
At a time when the ruling interests of the country were 
agriculture and the products of the forest and the sea, 
a college curriculum moulded in mediaeval form was 
sufficient. But with the development of mines and 
manufactures of every kind and the extension of new 
conditions of Hfe, a different training was demanded. 
Our educational institutions have responded under the 
pressure of a new civilization. The founding of this 
institution thirty years ago was but the recognition in 
the mind of a sagacious business man of the demands 
of a new era of materialistic development. The 
shaping of its scope and purpose is an indication of 
the best form which is to be reached by what we call 
higher education. 

In order that the general course may be covered in 



II 



the term of three years, the time usually given to 
Greek and Latin might be considerably curtailed. In 
proposing such abridgement I am not insensible of the 
value of the study of the classics, but for the ordinary 
student without especial taste for the dead languages 
and their literature, I believe that much of the time or- 
dinarily devoted to their study might more profitably 
be bestowed on other subjects. For all etymological 
and technical uses, one-half the time usually given to 
Greek and Latin in the curriculum would suffice. 
Why not one or two books of Herodotus or Livy, or 
Thucydides or Tacitus, as well as half a dozen ? The 
style of the author will be sufficiently impressed and 
the inducement to further private reading presented. 
For those, however, who manifest a special taste for 
the language and literature of Greece and Rome, a 
special post-graduate course should be provided. Two 
years devoted to the classics exclusively may be as 
fully warranted as two years devoted to mechanical or 
mining engineering. Parts of some other branches 
now included in a general course could also, I pre- 
sume, be transferred with propriety to the technical 
courses. That three years is considered practicable 
for a general course is, I think, demonstrated by the 
fact that the authorities of Harvard College are said to 
be considering the adoption of a three years' course as 
leading to the degree of A.B. in that institution. Such 
a scheme would, 1 think, have manifest advantages. 
Its adoption would mark the true university. 

It is undeniable that many boys enter college with 
no well-defined purpose as to their future. Neither 
they nor their parents know for what calling they are 
best adapted. A three years' general course, whilst 
giving them a broad and comprehensive culture, would 



— 12 — 

better enable them to judge what profession or call- 
ing to adopt, and would bring them to an age of supe- 
rior discretion, when their choice could more intelli- 
gently be made. The example and the influence of 
the engineering or special courses, of which by contact 
and contiguity they gain some knowledge, would 
greatly facilitate such choice. During the three years' 
general course the student would have constantly be- 
fore him the suggestion and the purpose of acquiring 
a technical training, and would be less likely to be sat- 
isfied with the deorree of A.B. alone. 

Another advantage of the scheme, incidental but 
most desirable, in my judgment, would be the oppor- 
tunity for practical work which might be interjected 
between the general and the technical courses. At 
the end of the three years' general course let the stu- 
dent spend a year in actual business or work. Em- 
ployment in the line of his future profession would be 
preferable, but failing that, any business experience 
would be beneficial. To illustrate this, take the case 
of an intending mechanical engineer. At the end of 
the three years' course the university might give and 
encourage a year's leave of absence, during which pe- 
riod the young man might find employment in a 
machine shop or factory and obtain some practical 
training in the use of tools and machinery. Much 
could be accomplished even in that brief time, and I 
venture to assert that there are many manufacturers in 
the United 'States who would heartily co-operate in 
such a scheme. The young man, after a year or fifteen 
months of practical work, would enter upon the scien- 
tific studies in mechanical engineering with a higher 
appreciation of their value, with a more intelligent 
comprehension of their application, and with greater 



— 13 — 

ability to assimilate the theoretical principles of the 
text-books. It is a well-known fact that the best 
draughtsmen (and I use the term not for mere copy- 
ists, but for designers) are those who have had shop 
practice. They have learned what tools can do, and 
by what process results can be reached most economi- 
cally and effectively. I need not extend the illustra- 
tration. You will at once apply it to the case of the 
civil engineer, the engineer of mines, the chemist, and 
the architect. 

The young man who has thus taken the complete 
course of five or six years will, when he finally receives 
his engineering degree, be entitled to stand as a thor- 
oughly educated engineer. His culture will have been 
broad and liberal. He will be equipped for the high- 
est citizenship, and can stand as a peer of any in the 
community. There are few professions where the 
widest knowledge can more fully be utilized than in 
that of the engineer. No man, whatever his calling, 
can know too much. He will find use in the most un- 
expected manner for attainments apparently foreign to 
his pursuits. The engineer, of all men, must be a prac- 
tical man, a man of business. He must be able to 
write concisely and vigorously. If he possesses the 
faculty of a public speaker, it will come in play. His 
knowledge of business forms and methods should be 
complete and exact. He should be a bookkeeper, a 
banker, a manufacturer, a merchant. Something at 
least in all these pursuits may fall to his lot in the 
varied conditions of his professional life. All these at- 
tainments, and more, can be utilized if he is to fulfil 
the definition of an engineer which I have already 
quoted, as one capable of '' directing the great sources 
of power in nature for the use and convenience of man." 



— 14 — 

The young man successfully completing such a 
course as I have outlined has not only the liberal edu- 
cation which makes the man, but has also a profession 
or calling at his command. Uncertainty as to his 
future Is measurably removed. He Is ready to enter 
at once upon his life work. The contrast Is marked 
between his case and that of the newly graduated 
Bachelor of Arts of a classical or literary curriculum. 
The latter finds himself, not infrequently, not only with 
no equipment for a life work, but uncertain as to what 
to undertake. In many cases he is at a disadvantage 
compared with the boy of seventeen who has had less 
education but more practical experience. But the grad- 
uate of the Ideal university which I have attempted to 
picture will be at no such disadvantage. He will be 
ready to take his place as a useful member of society 
and faithfully to discharge the duties involved in the 
truest citizenship. 

One other advantage of such a course may be par- 
ticularly emphasized. In such a five or six years' 
course the student will, in most cases, have before 
him a definite object and purpose. His studies will 
be pursued more intelligently and more effectively. 
Graduation will find him with a profession or calling 
enabling him at once to begin his life work. The He- 
brews of old were wise in requiring every young man 
to learn a trade. Our educational system to-day 
should not prevent, but rather promote, a similar 
policy. 

In conclusion permit me to emphasize one thought. 
Complete as will be the education of the engineer, as 
the result of the system which I have outlined, it will 
not be all that will be required in actual business. 

The education will, it is true, be an effective imple- 



— 15 — 

ment, but Its owner will still have to learn its use. 
The interests of manufacturing and commerce have 
little respect for the dignity of science. Their motto 
is that "nothing succeeds but success." The practical 
man, who knows thoroughly a few things, is considered 
superior to the theorist, who has a partial knowledge 
of a variety of subjects. The graduate must, there- 
fore, be ready to subordinate his training to the neces- 
sities of business. He will, undoubtedly, In good time, 
find ample opportunity to use all his acquirements ; 
but he must be content, in entering on his work, to 
accept conditions as he finds them, and to wait pa- 
tiently for an opportunity to utilize his knowledge. 
There is one term too commonly used which Is mis- 
chievous in Its influence. We hear of a young man 
seeking a "position" In a business. It is not "po- 
sition," but opportunity of usefulness that should be 
sought. Faithful and intelligent service will generally 
secure recognition in the long run. A young man of 
my acquaintance, who had completed his course as an 
electrical engineer, sought employment with the West- 
inghouse Electrical Company. The first work to which 
he was assigned consisted in trueing up by hand the 
plates of an armature and covering it with asbestos, a 
process which, perhaps, could have been as well done 
by an ordinary laborer. The manager grimly re- 
marked that such a job was what they usually assigned 
to college graduates. The young man accepted the 
task without a murmur, and in no long time was pro- 
moted to more important and congenial duties. An- 
other case within my knowledge is that of a young 
man who had received his degree as a mining engineer. 
He learned that a certain smelting works In one of the 
Western States had applied to the President of his In- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



028 346 580 9 



i6 



stitutlon for some one to serve as helper in the assay 
department. The salary was inconsiderable, but the 
place was accepted, and within one year he had been 
promoted by successive steps until he was offered an 
encracrement as mana^fer of the works. 

One more instance will suffice. At the commence- 
ment exercises of 1895 ^^ ^^^Y own Alma Mater, a 
young man, just graduated as a mechanical engineer, 
applied to me for employment. It was arranged, and, 
on September i, he reported for duty and was assigned 
to work in running a shaping machine in a night gang. 
Several promotions were secured in a reasonable time, 
and, in May last, an application, which was received 
from the Government of the United States of Colombia 
for a principal instructor in a mechanical school in that 
country was filled by the nomination, by his employers, 
of the young man referred to. I have every reason to 
believe that he is satisfactorily and successfully dis- 
charging the duties assigned him. 

As a general proposition, then, it may be said that 
the demand in business is for men who can accomplish 
specific results. Any opportunity of service, if in the 
right direction and patiently and faithfully utilized, has 
in it the promise of a successful and useful career. 
Add the broad, complete and symmetrical training 
which it is the function of the university to give, and 
the result may be not only individual prosperity, but 
true citizenship. 



